


Leap of faith

by frankenjoly



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Fluff, Missing Scene, Obviously fits RP-wise I mean, Post-Canon, Tales From the Borderlands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26612518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankenjoly/pseuds/frankenjoly
Summary: Yeah, most of my one-shots are derived from RP stuff I do in one post instead of a solo thread. This is about Sasha right before her first anniversary with Rhys, getting ready and thinking about how far everything's come.
Relationships: Rhys/Sasha (Borderlands)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Leap of faith

Both excited and nervous, Sasha stared at her own reflection in the mirror, as she tried what could possibly be her tenth attempt at doing something with the still short small locks, which weren’t exactly behaving as they should. Another day, and after repetitive trial and error, the Pandoran would have just opted for just a headband and done. But she was absolutely headstrong, and getting ready for a special occasion. So, no quitting.

After a while, she managed to maintain her hair up and in place, and let herself smile proudly while taking another long, thorough look at the final picture.

There was her, in the most fancy-but-still-comfortable dress she had been able to get her hands on, hair up and the usual amount of bracelets adorning her arms and wrists. Plus, the earrings. No high heels or make-up, though after a bit of deliberation she slid one of Fiona's lipsticks inside her bag. Just in case.

Aaand… ready.

More or less, as Sasha was still bubbling with nerves. Not like they weren’t justified, to honor the truth.

During all her life in general, and since the fake Vault Key gig in particular, her life had been a succession of literal and metaphorical jumps, of living day by day and making ends meet with the cons, hoping for a better future when they had enough money. It meant being focused and committed to each plan, not to people outside the small circle which consisted of her, Fiona and Felix. Opening it up for anyone else was usually out of the question, and it hadn’t properly happened till… well, precisely when selling a fake Key had turned into the search for a real Vault and everything that went in between.

At first, it had seemed against all common sense for someone making a living out of stealing and scamming. Not only letting people in, but letting yourself have feelings for a person who was part of the hustle that was supposed to be The One was an obvious mistake, no matter if when she had started to realize it, said hustle was already a… could it be called a failure if fucking Felix had fucking run away with all the fucking money?

It didn’t matter, anyway. Not when the plan had gone through such a complete turn of events, changing not only the course of what happened, but the lives of everyone involved. Not when, stupidly as it would have seemed at first, the two (ex now) Hyperion nobodies who came instead their original 'client' had grown on her and Fiona. Not when she had started falling for one of them. And as refreshing as it was, letting people know you _for real_ , actually bonding, being able to call it friendship… could it actually work? Last? 

Okay, maybe _it could be_ , or she wouldn't be where she was right at the moment, having just finished getting ready for her first anniversary plans with Rhys.

It wasn't just herself, as the gifts had been carefully prepared too. It had been a bit difficult, making a choice because what did you give someone who already had everything? But she has managed, and even though Sasha wasn't going to be completely convinced till seeing her boyfriend's reaction, couldn't say it was bad planning either.

One of them wasn't something she had prepared specifically for that night, but after the whole year it felt like the right moment for her to give it to Rhys. A letter, saying all the things she couldn't have said if the plan to take down the Traveler had failed, or if something had happened to her. And not only that, as she had been adding new content since they had started dating till a few hours later, when deciding it was completely done.

It hadn't been a simple love letter or something at first, or at least Sasha had told herself so. Even if under all the layers of made-up stories and characters created for different cons, under the armor built thoroughly with time as a result of being born and raised Pandoran and all the consequences coming along… Even if under all of that there still hid a hopeless romantic, and as embarrassed as she would be having to admit it in, like, most of the possible situations… that wasn’t just it. She hadn't started it in complete hopes of him returning her feelings (which had happened), just to get it out of her system, and to not let anything unsaid if she didn't make it when facing the Vault monster.

It was never about romantic love, at least, as Fiona had her own letter too. And both of them had been a pain to write in more than one sense.

Writing Fiona’s had been hard because there was no easy way to say goodbye to the only person who had stuck with you from the beginning of your life, watching over and basically raising you. How to sum up what her sister meant to her, or to put it in words? Still, there had been a quite satisfying attempt during which… yes, she had cried in certain parts of it and wouldn’t be ashamed of admitting that, though it wouldn’t be something she would be announcing from North to South either.

Writing Rhys’ had been coming out more or less fine until she reached The Point, and there were a bunch of scrambled paper pieces with the previous attempts before settling for the definitive draft. Everything sounded so corny, fake, dumb and she had been tempted to give up.

Her only reason not to? The possibility of those words ending up not only unsaid, but lost forever.

Not like Sasha was afraid of death, not too much. Dying in an adventure like that, trying to achieve a big goal or protecting the people she cared the most wasn’t a bad way to go. Even sounded epic, at least not taking into account it would have meant dying in Pandora, a planet she held no particular affection for, not even being born and raised there. Or, to phrase it better, _because_ she had been born and raised there. Sure, Fiona had made life in Pandora bearable, and basically kept her alive, healthy and sane. And she was more than grateful for that, but in another life, she wouldn’t have had to do it. In another life, hopefully on another planet, their parents wouldn’t have died, they could have had enough to eat, go to school… all the stuff the kids from the Edens and so probably took for granted. Maybe their house would have had a bathroom bigger than the caravan, like she had heard Rhys say once.

But it hadn't happened, and even when Sasha wished Fiona and her had gotten an easier childhood, didn't regret where she was either.

Time had passed, things had happened, and… well, he had turned out to be a skilled hacker, an adorable dork and… the possibility of having misread the signals still had existed but because, as much experience as Sasha had when it came to reading people, having her judgement clouded by her feelings (not only romantic feelings but nervousness and fear too) had been something to take into account. Not to mention she didn’t have tons of experience, _real_ experience. Playing parts designed for scams, to appeal their marks, had become not easy but familiar, and it tended to work. Instead, someone falling for her being really herself, if not uncharted territory, still had lots of uncovered areas. In other words, it wasn’t her area of expertise, primarily for the kind of life she had lived.

Did she regret it? Maybe a bit, but not entirely. Surely, Sasha also wished she hadn’t missed so much about relationships, not only romantic one. But Pandora wasn’t a kind place and you did what you had to, or could, to get by.

Also, regretting wasn’t going to change anything, or to help make her nervousness go away. So, instead of letting said nerves completely control her, the Pandoran made an effort to focus on all the key moments she treasured as The Signals, and had led her, both of them, there.

The first one, when he had turned out to be not such a big jerk, an impressive hacker and definitely not the best when it came to taking someone down. But he had shared that cool stun baton and the pinky promise had been… Sasha couldn't completely explain, but it definitely had been something.

Then it came the road trip and all kind of shenanigans, from the most dumb between the dumb to fun stuff like the Bunkers and Badasses game. Things she could get used to, honestly.

After that, the Atlas biodome part had its weird and tense bits, and definitely getting her ass slapped by the same guy who had given her a flower in the most tender way someone had ever acted towards her hadn't been funny at all. It hadn't been Rhys' call but the damn AI's, but there was no way she could know by then, and still... 

But the flower moment… Oh. The flower.

Maybe it had been kind of a cliché, from the beginning to the end of it, maybe. The thing was, Sasha liked those things in general, and had liked it coming from Rhys in particular.

It had felt special, and it had made _her_ feel special. And when he had happened to call the atmosphere romantic, not so long before that, plus that moment when he genuinely thought she was going to die and seemed incredibly and genuinely concerned… Even as unsure as she could be when it came to real deals and not just cons, mostly because nervousness was an important variable… Sasha then doubted she had been misreading all those signals.

Okay, all had kind of went to hell after that, and a lot of stuff had happened, and she couldn't just toss aside the whole Jack thing like it was nothing. Because, talking about reading signals… well, maybe not the AI, but the man himself… Rhys didn’t talk about him like it was just his hero, an admired but distant figure, oh no. It had been more, Sasha could have bet on it. And with winning results, as she had learnt later.

But he was gone, and worrying about what could happen seemed pointless. And even if he wasn't, that was still in the past, right? Sasha, even still thinking about the what if's, was more focused on the present, anyway.

And the future.

Because yes, what if something went wrong? But what if something went well? It had been going more than well for the past year and nothing had to change, not for the worse at least.

‘ _C’mon, you’ve been in worse situations._ ’ Told herself, taking a deep breath as she placed the bag’s strap over her shoulder and, finally, took the few steps to go.


End file.
